1. Renaissance (c. 1350 - 1600) Fr., means “rebirth”: rediscovery of art & learning of classical world Emphasis on secular world, on man as measure of all things More cosmopolitanism than in medieval period (e.g., travel, translation of works) Age of great artists (e.g., Da Vinci, Michelangelo)

2. Proportions Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (1492): called after Roman architect Vitruvius (1 st cent. BC) who thought that proportions of body should be projected onto architecture too

3. Places Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam (c. 1510): fresco from Sistine Chapel, Vatican

4. Plans Niccolò Machiavelli’s* The Prince (1513): an effective ruler should utilize qualities of the “lion” and “fox” (i.e., courage and slyness) generally an age of guidebooks, manuals, treatises, etc. (ranging from behavioral textbooks for aristocrats to texts on swordfighting) * portrait of Machiavelli by Santi di Tuti (c. 1520)

5. Ideas Humanism: originating in Florence of later 14 th cent.; focused on study of classical Greek & Latin; emphasized art, role of five senses, more than medieval, religious introspection (crisis came with Galileo’s church trial of 1633 in which he dropped view that Earth revolves around Sun when shown instruments of torture) Neoplatonism: originating 3rd cent. AD; based on teachings of Plato (that reality is mere reflection of higher truth), though reading Plato in many confusing ways; held belief that perfection and happiness could be achieved through philosophical contemplation; influenced early Christianity; also closely tied to early Gnostic (unorthodox Christian) sects who saw Original Sin as Original Enlightenment since knowledge (in Greek, gnosis) brought Fall from Paradise Epicureanism: founded 4th cent. BC; held that greatest good to seek modest worldly pleasures and freedom from fear through knowledge; offered an atomistic view of world wherein Gods made from more refined atoms, didn’t interfere in everyday life, though should be imitated for their sense of “the good life”; first philosophical school to introduce social contract (i.e., laws based on mutual agreement rather than through divine decree)

6. Society nobles & peasants live mostly in rural areas during medieval times; cities feature small merchant/trade class Black Death (c. 1348) causes economic depression because of population decrease; people flee to countryside resurgence of cities and city-states by late 1400s, and emergence of new merchant class (e.g., Medicis in Florence) that finances endeavors in art, trade, exploration, etc. trade “guilds” become important (e.g., textile workers, bankers, lawyers, masons, sculptors) Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press revealed (in operation in Mainz by 1450)